KRT (F4) 2 of 5

WORKSHEET 2

Study the idioms in bold.

The teacher walked into the room and knew immediately something was wrong. All of the students were very quiet. She asked them: “Has the cat got your tongues?” Normally the students could all talk the hind legs off donkeys. The question fell onto deaf ears, no one answered and all acted as though they had not heard her. She concluded that they had done something wrong. She wondered who would let the cat out of the bag and tell her what had happened. She thought that she may be wrong and have got the wrong end of the stick or barking up the wrong tree i.e. they hadn’t done anything wrong at all. She asked them again what had happened but it was like talking to a brick wall; nobody answered her. She told them that if they did not tell her what was wrong soon, she would be very angry. Luckily this hit home, one of the students told her what had happened. One of them had found out that it was her birthday; actually, another teacher had put his foot in it by telling them how old she was and when her birthday was. She had asked him not to but clearly that had gone in one ear and out of the other. Eventually, she smiled though, when the students began to sing happy birthday to her!

Based on the context of the story, explain the meaning of each of the idioms.

1.    the cat got your tongues

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2.    talk the hind legs off donkeys

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3.    fell onto deaf ears

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4.    let the cat out of the bag

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5.    have got the wrong end of the stick

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6.    barking up the wrong tree

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7.    talking to a brick wall

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8.    hit home

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9.    put his foot in it

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10. gone in one ear and out of the other

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